Maximising Black Friday

In the UK, Black Friday traditionally referred to the friday before Christmas - brits finished work, began the long holiday weekend and excessive ‘partying’ caused a rise in the demand for emergency services. Akin to the US, however, customers now associate the term with the beginning of a ‘bargain hunt’.

In 2018, Brits are estimated to spend around £7 billion on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and around 62% of Brits are expected to take part in the frenzy. Most view the ‘holiday’ as an opportunity to buy gifts for Christmas, but some also now consider it a family tradition. Giving the increasing importance of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and that many companies view the ‘holiday’ as their most profitable time of year, it may be a good idea for your business to get involved. Here are some of the ways you can prepare ahead of this weekend:

When it comes to deals, go hard or go home. Offer deals that you would not offer any other time of year. Many businesses are trying to take advantage of the shopping frenzy, so you will need to be competitive to stand out.

Consider using banners. You can use a website banner to highlight some of your most amazing deals and encourage customers to ‘buy it now or miss out’.

Check your website speed. Around 46% of shoppers have said they will go elsewhere if a website does not load in a timely fashion, so if your website is image-heavy, make sure these load without delay.

Make sure you communicate. Engage with customers on as many platforms as you can leading up to this weekend. Highlight some of your best offers on social media and in emails. But again, you need to stand out from the crowd, so make these eye-catching and come up with an email title that stands out.

Take advantage of a lead-generation landing page. The purpose of this page will be to acquire a customer’s contact details and drive email sign-ups. This will enable you to market to them even after the Black Friday buzz.

Finally, customers realise many Black Friday bargains are not as good as they seem. Indeed, Which? found that an overwhelming majority of products, including those from Amazon and Argos, were cheaper at other times of year than on Black Friday. Because of this, many customers have started using price trackers. So again, offer deals that you would not offer any other time of year.